Well, seriously, the group’s goal was to construct “a single organization devoted to research and assessment that could significantly contribute to the advancement of education … these founding principles guide ETS today,” according to its history. It’s a hefty sum for an organization that’s supposedly nonprofit.ĮTS started in 1947 when a group of educational councils got together to plot how to screw over students and make money in the process. According to a 2001 report by educational testing watchdog Fair Test, the last ETS CEO made $500,000 a year. The organization sits on a 300-acre site and employs some 2,700 people, from education researchers to number crunchers. Rumors swirl around the uses of the profit made by the not-for-profit ETS. Starting in January, SATs will cost $41.25, up from $29.50, not to mention another $10 to get scores by phone. With that in mind, I wondered why ETS does not receive more scrutiny, from students at least.įor example, does anyone know that ETS is anticipated to make about $900 million in revenue in 2004, according to an April 2004 Business Week article? That’s not surprising, considering that they charge $82 per AP test and $112 for each GRE. Basically, almost every student in the United States must go through ETS in order to achieve his or her goals. Additionally, ETS used to own the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), but recently lost it to another company. We’re usually more familiar with the College Board, another nonprofit organization, which actually contracts ETS for its SAT tests. For one thing, it produces and administers the SAT, the AP tests, the GRE and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), as well as the California S.T.A.R. In reality, ETS is more like an 800-pound gorilla than like a snake. As ludicrous as that sounds, it was very effective in motivating me to study for the test. We had to beat ETS at its own game by maneuvering through its manipulative SAT in order to attain college bliss. ETS, it explained, was a so-called nonprofit organization that sucked up students’ money to pave its solid-gold tennis courts at its corporate headquarters in Princeton, N.J. The introductory chapter, however, was pretty mobilizing in its call to arms against the Evil Testing Serpent. Senior year of high school, I read an off-the-cuff alternative SAT prep book, which was, in retrospect, kind of a waste of money (sample chapter: “How to Fill in Your Scantron Sheet”). The object of my much-dramatized laments is otherwise known as Educational Testing Service. I shake a clenched fist in the air, scorning the invisible torturer of student souls: “Fie, fie! Your foul invention is ruining my life!” Other times, especially when I have just spent 38-odd minutes on a geometry problem I haven’t encountered since 10th grade, I curse the maker of the standardized test. It is just another necessary step on the road to further my education, and I can’t do anything about it. Those phone book-sized Kaplan prep books are again sitting on my shelf. The Graduate Record Examination is around the corner. Can’t all college students identify?īut it was not over. After taking the SAT I three times, the SAT II seven times, and five Advanced Placement tests, I was done with number-two pencils. Just keep me away from quantitative comparisons and analogies, please. Multiple choice, essay, short answer, anything else - bring it on. I thought thought that after being accepted to UCSD, I would never have to face a standardized test again.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |